Football Growth : Poor Foundation Results In Deplorable Results

Some football fans must have been shocked that the U-17 Lions were booted out of the 15th edition of the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Morocco in the first round on 6 April, 2025. Such sentiments of discomfort at the performance of the cadet Lions could certainly have been a show of concern for the poor performance or sheer love of victory for country. Also, it could have been due to the bravery demonstrated by the boys during the qualification stage when they eliminated most of their opponents in grand style, leaving football pundits to predict a bright future for the team. In some matches, the score margin in their favour was up to four goals. Could that have been signs of a one-eyed person in the land of the blind? Evidently not, because even in defeat the players did not only show a candid sense of regret, but also demonstrated that they knew they deserved better. Undoubtedly, having the will to win was not enough in a competition of international standards even if it concerns only juniors. What is clear is that all the teams present had as ambition to take home the trophy.      
Unfortunately, the cadet Lions for the second successive tournament left prematurely with the same results. Two defeats and one draw. Beaten by Burkina Faso in their opening match on 31 March, 2025 and Egypt in the last group B game on 6 April, 2025, the draw obtained against South Africa on 2 April, 2025 could only leave the U-17 Lions at the bottom of the group. Even worse, they not only lost the AFCON, but were eliminated from the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar next November. Thus, even hope to participate in the play-off in search of one of the available 10 places for Africa at the FIFA U-17 World Cup was equally lost. So Morocco 2025 has just been a repeat of Algeria 2023. Making it easy to say that the poor showing by the cadet Lions is actually neither strange nor new. Apart from the early qualification of the Indomitable Lions in 2024 for the AFCON in Morocco, there is little else in football to bank on this year. It has been a series of eliminations inflicted on the various national teams in the country that fought for international glory within the past years.     
Yet, the handwriting looks clear on the wall. Off-pitch and back-stage preoccupations bedevilling the football arena in the country are overwhelming. Looking at youth football, in particular, the existing competitions that can permit the boys to be competitive are rather inconsistent. It is true that most of the players are young and need to blend academics with football, but the need to render the players efficient and capable of copping with the challenges of professional football cannot be overlooked. For the time being, they only have to make do with occasional groupings during holiday periods. A few are recruited from some football training academies that are mostly created to market young talents rather than to promote professional football. Such structures are hardly in a position to ensure team cohesion among the young talents given that they are commercialised even before they understand the hurdles that they can face within the difficult football environment. Most talents under such a toxic atmosphere get expropriated out of the country prematurely, leaving the local football arena empty. The National Football Academy (ANAFOOT) came as a response to the need for a vision in the detection of young talents in the country so that the Indomitable Lions should be able to have what it takes to remain on top and to provide the cohesive force that citizens see in the team. That means beginning from the grassroots level by nurturing young talents. But with such early elimination from a competition like the AFCON, the lessons are there for everyone to see that the Lions have little or no future.     
It is no secret that a good football team must exist with the guidance of a good coach. Unfortunately, not only is every citizen in the country a football coach, but when people have the opportunity to hold certain positions of responsibility within the football circles, they immediately focus on their self-interest to the detriment of the game a...